The collaboration will combine Xilis’s MOS platform with MD Anderson’s expertise to advance cancer therapies development.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has entered a strategic collaboration with biotech company Xilis for advancing new technology and expediting new cancer therapy development.
The preclinical research deal will combine the MicroOrganoSphere (MOS) platform of Xilis with the expertise of MD Anderson for advancing new therapies development and cancer research.
Under the deal, MD Anderson and Xilis aim to advance the development of drug and discovery projects using the MOS technology.
The MOS platform enables translational research on micro-tumours derived from patients with new capabilities.
It may offer opportunities for third-party collaborations to guide the new cell therapies and drugs development, if successful.
Xilis CEO and co-founder Dr Xiling Shen said: “Our research suggests the MOS platform has the potential to offer new capabilities and to improve the efficiency of developing innovative drugs and cell therapies over current xenograft and organoid models, which we hope will bring medicines to patients more quickly.
“We look forward to working with the MD Anderson team to discover and develop the next generation of cancer treatments, and we welcome further conversations with pharmaceutical firms for tripartite drug development opportunities.”
The MOS platform will be jointly run by the Xilis and MD Anderson teams.
It enables quick evaluation of a patient tumour response to a range of cancer drug modalities within 14 days of obtaining harvested samples of tumour cells.
This is said to be essential to determine in the clinic the complete spectrum of treatment effects, including immuno-oncology.
The MOS platform can also expedite the disease model development, which offers new opportunities for further discovery research, drug development efforts, and translational science.
Xilis and MD Anderson are also planning to explore the usage of the MOS platform for establishing new patient-derived models in the field, including treatment-resistant diseases and rare cancers.
Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva.
